Anonymous Duped Unsuspecting Users into Joining Megaupload Offensive

Anonymous- the hacktivist group, recruited unwitting accomplices during their latest cyber attack against the US Department of Justice (DoJ), revealed a prominent security researcher, Graham Cluley, according to whom the group initiated distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against DoJ in retaliation for a ban on Megaupload.

In what could be termed as one of the biggest ever online piracy take down, the Department of Justice, also arrested four associates of the popular and widely used Megaupload "cyberlocker" website over various charges of money laundering, copyright infringement and racketeering.

Immediately after these announcements by the government, the infamous hackers collective took revenge with DDoS attacks on multiple US Department of Justice websites, as well as other websites controlled by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Universal Music, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and many other entertainment related sites, reported Computer World.

The group, via Twitter and another blog post, confirmed that the attack was one of the largest attacks they even attempted and also that in the attack 5,600 people were involved.

According to Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant with Sophos, out of the 5,600 participant many were not even aware of the DDoS attempt. The hackers distributed links through Twitter and other sites and when the links were clicked it initiated Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) tool.